Imphal, May 19: Central Agricultural University (CAU) today distributed seeds of Tampha Phou variety, which has been declared as the highest yielding paddy after an experiment conducted in over 80 hectares of land under the Frontline Demonstration (FLD).

Speaking at the occasion, co-ordinator of FLD Dr Ph Ranjit Sharma said that the main motive behind the FLD being carried out under the sponsorship of Union Ministry of Agriculture is to extend the benefit of the research to all the farmers of the State.

From out of the experiment conducted on five different variety of paddies over an area of 138 hectares of land by CAU in association with ICAR and Rice Research Station, Wangbal under FLD under Kharif 2006-07, Tampha Phou was cultivated in over 40 hectares.

In comparing the yields of these five paddy varieties, the Annual Rice Group meeting held at Hyderabad from April 8 to 11 have officially declared Tampha Phou as the highest yielding variety, Dr Ranjit informed.

So the seeds of the Tampha Phou is being distributed to the farmers of the four districts namely, Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and Thoubal for cultivation in over 80 hectares during Kharif 2007-08 to register more success, he explained.

Fertilisers and other required pesticides would also be subsequently made available to the farmers within the next one month, he added.

Dean of College of Agriculture, CAU Prof N Iboton Singh, head of Dept of the college Prof JM Laishram and IGP, Government of Manipur Rahaman attended the function as chief guest, president and guest of honour respectively.

In his address, Prof Iboton encouraged the farmers to start the necessary preparatory work for cultivation in time and not to hesitate in approaching the CAU when they have any doubt so that a collective effort can be made for increasing the food grain production.

JM Laishram urged the farmers to adopt the techniques prescribed by the University for cultivation of Tampha Phou judiciously to increase the production so that they could in return provide the required samples for making them widely available to other farmers through the University.

This way, we would be able to contribute not only to the economy of the State but arrangement could also be made for exporting the surplus food grain to other places, he noted.

A training programme for the farmers on the correct method of cultivating Tampha Phou was also facilitated toward the end of the programme.

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